What Does He Want? (Friday Devotional)

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

- Psalm 119:105

People go to extreme lengths to find out what their best future looks like—what job they’re “supposed” to take, who their “supposed” to marry, where they’re “supposed” to live, etc. Pursuing knowledge of what the future holds, some turn to psychics and soothsayers who offer vague pronouncements about what is to come. More analytical minds map out as many hypothetical outcomes as they can imagine and give themselves migraines trying to decide the right decision for every possible scenario.

Not only are Christians susceptible to this desire to know their best future now, they baptize it. Certain that God has one specific, set destiny in mind for every person (and fearful of deviating from it), many Christians will go to extreme lengths to ensure they’re making the correct life decisions. For some that means closing their eyes, pointing to a Bible verse at random, and drawing inspiration from its contents. For others it means waiting for a sign from above, however innocuous that sign may seem to others, and counting on it to point them in the right direction. These flawed methods, though grounded more in superstition than mature faith in God, nevertheless point to a valid, faithful question: how do I know what God wants me to do?

Scripture tells us that the word of God—whether the spoken word of the Lord’s still, small voice; the written word of the Bible; or the incarnate Word of Jesus Christ—is the source of direction in the life of the believer. The psalmist compares God’s word to a lamp, illuminating where you should go; it shines a light when all you see is darkness. By listening to God in prayer, by reading the God-breathed words of Scripture, and by observing the actions and ethic of Jesus, the Word made flesh, you are able to better discern where God is leading you.

When seeking the will of God in your life, you don’t have to turn to elaborate rituals or convoluted procedures to know what God calls you to do. He is not a trickster who reveals His will in riddles; rather, He has abundantly revealed Himself through the words of the Bible and the actions of Jesus, and He continues to show us His will day by day in the Spirit. If you want to know what God wants from you, it’s not about finding the right mechanism you can control—it’s simply about listening to what He says.